Turkey calls for punishment of defiant Israel

Jerusalem/Ankara: Turkey called on Tuesday for Israel to be punished for storming a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza in an attack that left nine dead and Israel increasingly isolated in the face of international outrage.

Israel ordered the deportation of 682 activists from more than 35 countries captured aboard a flotilla of ships seized en route to the Palestinian enclave which has been under Israeli blockade since 2006.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged the immediate lifting of "the inhumane embargo on Gaza", and Cairo announced the opening of its border with the territory, ruled by the Islamist group Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt's main opposition.

The United Nations called for an impartial investigation of the deaths of the nine people, four of them Turks, in the takeover by naval commandos who met violent resistance.

"Israel's behaviour should definitely, definitely be punished," a visibly angry Erdogan told a meeting of his parliamentary deputies, adding: "The time has come for the international community to say 'enough'."

Erdogan's Islamist views and outreach to Iran and Israeli enemies are blamed by many in Israel for souring ties between the Jewish state and Turkey, once its closest Muslim ally.

The bloodshed also put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tense ties with U.S. President Barack Obama under further strain. Netanyahu cancelled talks with Obama to fly home from Canada to deal with the crisis.

The Israeli military said the nine were killed when commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara, the cruise ship on which most of the violence occurred, from helicopters and dinghies and opened fire in what Netanyahu said was self-defence.

A formal statement agreed by the U.N. Security Council drew a sharp response from Israel, which said its foreign minister complained in a telephone call with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that it was condemned unfairly for "defensive actions".

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had visited some of the activists held by Israel.

"We have been granted access to dozens of activists from the convoy of ships now being held by the Israeli authorities and we are re-establishing contact with their families," Pierre Wettach, head of the ICRC delegation in Israel and the occupied territories, said in a statement issued in Geneva.

The ICRC strongly deplored the deaths and injuries resulting from Israel's operation. "The high number of casualties raises serious questions concerning the methods and means used by the Israel Defence Forces to prevent the flotilla from proceeding to Gaza," it said.

At the Gaza frontier town of Rafah, dozens of people raced for the Egyptian border after Egypt, like Turkey a leading Muslim nation in the region, said it would be opened "for an unlimited time" to allow Palestinians and aid to cross.

Hamas requested the opening. Cairo, coordinating with Israel, has rarely opened the border since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

While Israel grappled with world criticism, its navy said it was ready to intercept another aid vessel that organisers of the flotilla planned to send to the Gaza Strip next week.

Netanyahu told his security cabinet Israel had to pursue its naval blockade of Gaza to prevent weapons from being smuggled to Iranian-backed Islamist rulers of the coastal territory.

"The opening of a sea route to Gaza would pose a tremendous risk to the security of our citizens. Therefore we continue a policy of a naval blockade," Netanyahu told ministers.

Unanswered questions

Big questions were unanswered: how far Israel could continue to blockade 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after condemnation from allies, and how it misjudged the situation and dropped marines onto a Turkish ship where they felt they had to open fire to save their lives.

As pictures emerged of a handful of Israeli marines being beaten and clubbed by dozens of activists, it was clear there would be anger in Israel over the mishandled raid.

Activists' accounts began to emerge after some were deported. "We did not resist at all, we couldn't even if we had wanted to. What could we have done against the commandos who climbed aboard?" said Mihalis Grigoropoulos, who was aboard a vessel behind the Mavi Marmara.

"The only thing some people tried was to delay them from getting to the bridge, forming a human shield. They were fired upon with plastic bullets and were stunned with electric devices," Grigoropoulos told NET TV at Athens airport.

Government sources said Israeli ministers would consider whether to allow detained Turkish activists to return home on two planes that Turkey sent to Israel.

Obama, who has revived Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations through U.S.-mediated indirect talks, said he wanted the full facts soon and regretted the loss of life.

After more than 10 hours of closed-door talks on the operation, the U.N. Security Council called for "a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards".

It also condemned "those acts which resulted in the loss of ... civilians and many wounded".

The use of the word "acts" instead of "act" -- the term preferred by Turkey -- suggested that activists who attacked the Israeli boarding party also bore some responsibility.

Marine commandos involved in the attack pointed to a failure of intelligence. "We did not expect such resistance from the group's activists as we were talking about a humanitarian aid group," the boarding party commander, an unnamed naval lieutenant with permission to be interviewed, told Army Radio.

"The outcome was different to what we thought, but I must say that this was mainly because of the inappropriate behaviour of the adversary we encountered."

Some 700 activists were processed in and around Israel's port of Ashdod, among them many Turks and nationals of Arab countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait. They included Israelis and Palestinians, Americans, Asians and many Europeans -- among them politicians -- and a Swedish author.

The Interior Ministry said it issued deportation orders against 682 activists, 45 of whom were taken to Ben-Gurion Airport for immediate repatriation, while hundreds of others were jailed as they contested the order.

About 30 activists were in hospitals with injuries.

Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said police were gathering evidence to prosecute activists who had set upon the marines with fists, batons, knives and gunfire.

"All those who lifted a hand against a soldier will be punished to the full extent of the law," he told Israel Radio.

The European Union, a main aid donor to the Palestinians, and Russia demanded an inquiry and an end to the embargo. Netanyahu voiced regret at the deaths but vowed to maintain the blockade to stop arms smuggling by Iranian-backed Hamas.